Wireless communication typically involves the transmission of information between a mobile station, such as a cellular telephone, pager or wireless local loop terminal, and a cell or base station which is connected to a switched telephone network, such as a local or long distance exchange carrier. Highly complex radios in a base station operate over overhead channels to establish and maintain a communication linkage to a mobile station and over traffic channels to transmit and receive information, such as voice signals, to and from the mobile station once a communication linkage is established.
A separate radio test unit (RTU) is typically included in each base station of a wireless communication network, such as a time division multiple access (TDMA) or an analog Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) network, for purposes of testing a radio in the respective base station. Testing of a radio is performed indirectly by removing the radio from service, and then using the RTU included in the base station for identifying a failure condition in the radio.
The high maintenance costs associated with indirectly testing a radio using an RTU do not, in practice, permit frequent testing of radios in base stations of a wireless network. It is very costly to remove a radio from a base station, test the radio and then replace the radio within the base station after testing, assuming the radio does not contain a failure condition that requires repair. Too infrequent testing of a radio, however, may result in a failure condition not being identified for an extended period time, thereby causing lost revenue to the wireless communication service provider and poor service to the customer.
Further, it is foreseen that the cost of manufacturing an RTU for inclusion in a base station will become an increasingly larger proportion of the entire cost of the base station, as technological advances continuously reduce the size of other base station components. Moreover, it is also expected that the cost of developing, testing and maintaining the extensive and complex software required for performing radio testing using an RTU will continue to rise with the development of newer and more complex wireless communication networks.